I have been celebrating ever since Saturday because of the great blessings we received at the Pisgah UMC Food Drop Friday and Saturday when we partnered with Christian Ministries of Lincoln County to reach more people with food.
This food brought to us was
gleaned from food manufacturers, warehouses, stores, and produce growers and
was gathered at 2nd Harvest Food Bank. The food has no cost since it
is donated. There is but a $300 transportation cost. I’m happy to report that
due to a fund-raiser we had back on Palm Sunday, the United Methodist Men of
Pisgah UMC were able to fund the entire event, paying for the transportation
and all the supplies we used.
Volunteers came from many
places, Laboratory UMC, Marvin UMC, Asbury UMC, and Pisgah UMC. On Friday some
20 volunteers rolled the big pallets of food in and got it ready to be loaded
into boxes to be given away on Saturday. On Friday Laboratory UMC also brought
food to be distributed. Other food we had to give away came from members of
Pisgah UMC and some was gathered from the 2013 confirmation class members!
(These people are awesome!)
Then on Saturday, we had 45
devoted souls who came to do the work of distributing the food to needy
families. They directed traffic, bagged produce, took qualifying applications
(USDA poverty guidelines were used), packed boxes, carried those heavy boxes, and
loaded car trunks and back seats with food. They also took loads of food to
qualified families who were unable to make it to the drop themselves.
All day long we were blessed by our work
together. I really saw God’s kingdom in action in a mighty way! There was
laughter, tears, hugs, prayers, silliness, fun and a generosity of Spirit that
energized us like the wind of the Holy Spirit energized the disciples at
Pentecost.
My prayers were answered! We had
no accidents. (Maybe a few sore backs on Sunday
morning.) We had awesome volunteers/disciples to do the hard work. We were
able to give away all the food. We were finished and had everything
cleaned up by noon. Most importantly, we caught sight of the Kingdom of God in
one another!
I am so thankful to be in ministry
at Pisgah UMC, a church of Jesus’ disciples who are eager to respond to any
need they know of, who step up to give love, to minister, to pray, to worship
and try new things, and even to reach into their pockets to be a blessing to
our community. God’s people at Pisgah are a blessing to me! Wow!
On Sunday morning we celebrated our
blessings with reading again the story of Jesus when he fed the 5000 (Mark 6:
35-44). Jesus was able to see a need and address it immediately. Today to
address a need, Jesus works it out differently.
Today, Jesus takes the body of believers,
brings them together in one accord, and then he orchestrates the feeding of the
multitude through each of us…the members of his body. Saturday, we could have been on a hillside in
Judea instead of being at Pisgah UMC, because we witnessed Jesus do the same
work he did there. With the 5 loaves and 2 fish ($300), we fed 111 families for
at least a day…probably 2 or 3 days more. Not 5000 perhaps, but it’s a start.
We are doing another Food Drop
in October! (More about that later.) I just want to say how thankful I am to God
for the vision of the Kingdom of God the strong -hearted people of the UMC gave me Saturday!
One word...WHOOWHO!
Some pictures below and....a video at http://youtu.be/kWQYJZPz_CU if you care to see it.
Some pictures below and....a video at http://youtu.be/kWQYJZPz_CU if you care to see it.
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| Traffic Handler. So serious. |
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